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Saw Spy Kids 3D - Game Over with the kids and their cousins last Friday. The 3-D effect was a huge disappointment and quite a distraction. It muddied up the movie’s colors and induced eyestrain. The red and green cardboard glasses were cumbersome, especially over my real glasses. My 3-year old didn’t like them either - he’d take them off as soon as I would put them on him.

Eyestrain aside, other aspects of the movie were a delightful surprise. I had lowered my expectations, however, quite considerably before watching it. I mean, when filmmakers use 3-D in a sequel, doesn’t it usually mean they’ve run out of ideas? Jaws 3-D and Friday the 13th 3-D are good examples. So I set myself up not to expect too much from this third movie in the series. The second one, The Island of Lost Souls, was already showing signs of losing that “Spy Kids” magic. The first movie was great, reminding me of a techno Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I always thought the Spy Kids, Juni and Carmen, could easily pass as Gene Wilder’s kids.

I’ve learned from watching the “special section” of the Spy Kids 2 DVD that Robert Rodriguez developed a cheap way of creating special effects for his movies. This was quite evident in Spy Kids 2. The sword fight scene with the skeletal pirates was probably meant to be an homage to Jason and the Argonauts but it didn’t look any better than Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion technique, even as an updated, computer-generated version. So I wasn’t expecting too much for the CG in the third film. It also helps, I suppose, that most of Spy Kids 3-D takes place in a computer game. Any expectations of realism are thrown out the window (too bad I can’t say the same for Matrix Reloaded, where the Matrix was supposed to simulate reality). But even then, the Spy Kids 3D’s CG effects were quite decent. A smattering of cameos also helped the movie along. In one instance, a surprise appearance by one particular actor was used in a clever way.

Director Robert Rodriguez, who collaborated with Quentin Tarantino in such movies as Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn, has consistently created movies in this series that are committed to promoting family values in a fun and imaginative way. Spy Kids 3D continues in this path by not only showing that family unity is important, but by also espousing virtues such as forgiveness, humility and sacrifice. One particular scene has (spoiler alert!) Juni giving up a “health pill” to this girl he likes even though he is the one who needs it the most. He gave it to her not wanting anything bad to happen to her. Now that’s how I’d like my sons to treat their future wives.

Just saw the Animatrix on DVD. All I can say is “whoa!” Keanu-style. It’s some of the most amazing animation I’ve seen since, well, hmmm…Spirited Away. It contains 9 anime shorts by various directors done in varied styles, all centering around the Matrix mythos.

Animatrix opens with Final Flight of the Osiris by the folks who did Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within. Because it’s done in realistic 3D style, it could have easily been incorporated into the Matrix movies (but come to think of it, the 3D generated people incorporated into Matrix Reloaded lent it an unbelievable, wooden feel. Bah.).

The Wachowskis have a penchant of taking not entirely new themes and using them in their films. The Second Renaissance (parts I & II), the second set of shorts, is no different. It tells of the pre-history of the Matrix movies. Seeing how the Matrix came to be gives you the familiar feeling you’ve seen all this before. The way the machines take over the world is so derivative that movies like Terminator and A.I could fit nicely into the Matrix universe. In all fairness, all these movies are, to a certain degree, probably based on Asimov’s Laws of Robotics (or what goes wrong when these laws are broken).

Kid’s Story and Detective Story are wildly experimental shorts done by Cowboy Bebop director Shinichiro Watanabe. The high school building in Kid’s Story is modeled after local Alameda High School. The kinetic, hand-drawn style is the most un-anime technique I’ve seen from a Japanese animator. Detective Story is a nice black and white noir piece that only further extends parallelisms between the magnificent Dark City and the Matrix. This time, we’ve also got investigators going crazy after finding out “the truth.”

Program is the most traditional anime short of the bunch. It’s beautifully drawn by the animator behind cutting-edge Neo Tokyo and Wicked City. It’s like watching Samurai Jack meets the Matrix.

The young animator behind World Record is clearly influenced by Peter Chung, director of Matriculation and the now-classic Aeon Flux. But he definitely brings something new and raw to the world of anime. Expect him to do the next Nike commercial or a future KRS-One video.

Beyond is perhaps the first anime where “rotoscoping” is used, a traditional Disney or Bakshi technique where live actors are used as reference or directly drawn over to give characters life-like movements.

Finally, Matriculation by American-born Peter Chung, who gave us Aeon Flux, weaves an “anti-Matrix” tale - inviting robots into the human mind. I’m glad to see Chung further honing his skills and improving his craft. This story is like a Heavy Metal strip come to life. It reminds me of parts of “The Incal” by Moebius and Jodorowski on which “The Fifth Element” is loosely based.

Chung probably needed a break from animating the Rugrats.

“The Matrix” has come full circle. When it first came out it was said to be an homage to the craft of fine Japanese animation. Now the Wachowski brothers have given the masters of anime an opportunity to tell the Matrix story with their own paintbrush.